


Not Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

by UselessReptileWrites



Category: The New Legends of Monkey (TV)
Genre: Flying, Food mention, Gen, Humor, Post-Season/Series 01, Spoilers, death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-05-31 18:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15125447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UselessReptileWrites/pseuds/UselessReptileWrites
Summary: Since Monkey has regained the ability to summon his cloud, travel should be a lot easier than walking.Emphasis on "should."





	Not Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

“Come on, Pigsy, do you trust me?”

Pigsy glared at Monkey. “Not when you’re smiling like that, I don’t.”

Pigsy was well acquainted with that smile. That smug grin, combined with that tilt of his head, promised nothing but trouble, especially when it was directed toward him. It was the look of a man who had nothing but mischief to give.

“This is the fastest way to travel to the next scroll,” Monkey continued, as if he didn’t have an ulterior motive to convince the man onto his vaporous death trap. “Surely you want to give the demons what’s coming to them sooner rather than later?”

Pigsy nodded. “Yeah, but that–” he gestured at the cloud Monkey stood on, hovering only inches off the ground “–doesn’t exactly look very solid to me.” On the contrary, it looked more like an extremely small and thick patch of fog.

“It’s holding me, isn’t it?” Monkey raised an eyebrow in challenge. “And it should hold you as long as I want it to. Keep that in mind if you wish to make any wise remarks in midflight.”

“It’s okay, Pigsy,” Tripitaka said, giving him what she must’ve thought was an encouraging smile. She then stepped onto the cloud, aided by Monkey’s extended hand.

The sight of that calmed Pigsy’s nerves somewhat. Monkey wouldn’t do anything that would risk Tripitaka. Those two had become like peas in a pod since the Jade Mountain revolution. 

Still, Sandy had taken her place on the cloud before he did. Finally, without any other reason to procrastinate, he took Monkey’s hand, which was extended in what seemed like self-satisfaction, and let himself be dragged up onto the cloud and into this mess.

Pigsy braced himself to fall through once Monkey let go of his hand, but beyond his feet sinking an inch into the cloud, it was surprisingly firm. Not bad, for transport you could see the ground through.

He reminded himself not to look down while in flight.

“Everyone ready?” Monkey asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Sandy said. She’d placed her weapon onto the cloud and was crouched down, holding onto it.

“Same here,” Pigsy said, and imitated what Sandy was doing.

Tripitaka nodded and reached out to grab hold of Monkey’s arm. It was casual enough a movement, but Pigsy could tell from how tightly she held onto him that she, too, was anxious.

The world suddenly was a blur of sensations. Green peeled away and was replaced by a distant blue and white. The gentle breeze morphed into a fierce windstorm that roared its fury and tried to shove the interlopers into its realm off their platform. Pigsy reached out his spare hand to grab a bit of cloud and steady himself, but he couldn’t grab ahold of it. It was like trying to grab a pillow that was also slippery as ice. It didn’t really help that it seemed to have no texture at all, just a sensation of coolness.

“This isn’t so bad, is it?” Monkey asked. He’d raised his voice to be heard over the wind, so Pigsy could definitely hear the smugness in it.

“You can see everything up here!” Sandy was smiling as if she’d been born to fly on clouds. At least one of them was happy.

Pigsy glanced over at Tripitaka. She was still holding onto Monkey like one might cling to flotsam in a shipwreck, but a little of the tenseness in her face had melted away, replaced by something like awe.

The world was briefly blotted out by a patch of fog that Pigsy realized was a cloud after the shock of it appearing suddenly wore off, and then they were above at least one layer of clouds. The sickeningly light sensation of rising died out then, and it seemed like they’d stopped rising. Which was all right with Pigsy, because this was way too high. It was high enough that even though he knew they were going fast due to the wind, it looked like they were hardly moving. The contradicting senses made his stomach clench.

“This is amazing!” Sandy said, peeking over the edge of the cloud. “What do you think, Tripitaka?”

“Yeah,” she admitted, though she was very pointedly keeping her eyes on the horizon. And then, because she wouldn’t be Tripitaka if she didn’t mention it: “We’ll be able to get to the next scroll faster and safer like this.”

Pigsy could already tell that Monkey would be insufferable for days to come.

Sandy pointed off to the distance. "Hold on. What is that?”

Pigsy squinted off into the distance. He had a feeling, though, that he wouldn’t like what he saw. It took him a moment to see it, but finally his eyes landed on a long silver line rolling across a cloud in the distance.

“Is that a dragon?” Tripitaka sounded like a schoolchild, incredulous and in awe. Pigsy wished he could have her enthusiasm.

“Oh, no worries, then,” Monkey said. “Dragons are peaceful and wise. They shouldn’t bother us.”

“I hope so,” Pigsy said as he realized the line was growing thicker and longer. “It’s heading our way.”

As the dragon approached, and they approached the dragon, Pigsy’s eyes picked up more details regarding the creature. It was a pale silver, almost completely white, that glinted and shone in the sun like a flying river, and twisted and turned like one as it approached.

“They don’t seem to be turning.” Sandy sounded rather casual about the advance of a creature that could swallow the four of them in one bite with hardly any effort.

“So it would seem.” Monkey spoke tersely, and pulled his hairpin from his hair. He didn’t yet turn it into his staff, but he clearly was preparing for trouble.

As the dragon didn’t slow or turn, Pigsy felt Monkey’s cloud crawl to a stop.

“Why are we stopping?” he hissed. Stopping would make them easier prey, if that was what the dragon was after.

“It isn’t like they’re going shrug and say, ‘Oh, well,’ if we run away, now is it?” Monkey was practically speaking through clenched teeth.

Finally, the dragon was before them. It hung in the air like an actor suspended above a stage, but if there were any ropes holding it up Pigsy couldn’t see them.

“Greetings,” Monkey said. He smiled at the dragon, though obviously the expression was tense.

The dragon bared its fangs. “You are the Monkey King, are you not?”

“The one and only.” Pigsy nearly groaned with despair. This was not the time for Monkey to start showing off.

The dragon’s lip peeled back further. “The one whose actions brought the world under the demons’ subjugation? The demons which have befouled my stream with their pollution?”

Pigsy buried his face in his hands.

“I was tricked.” At least the arrogance had vanished from his voice.

“The one who insulted me five centuries ago?” The voice was all but a roar now.

“I’m sorry, but–” Tripitaka began, but she never got to finish her sentence.

The dragon lunged, mouth open. Pigsy got a nice, good look at its pearly teeth that was taller than he was before he realized that he, along with the rest of the cloud, was dropping straight down.

If they made it through this alive, Pigsy thought, he’d seal Monkey inside another mountain himself.

* * *

“Everyone made it?” Monkey’s voice echoed in the darkness of the cave they’d ducked in to escape the dragon.

“I'm not sure if I will,” Sandy said, her hand over her heart. It was a sentiment that Pigsy could get behind.

“I’m fine,” Tripitaka said. She sounded out of breath, but otherwise unharmed. Then again, she’d been poisoned and insisting she was all right up until she passed out.

“Peaceful, you said.” Pigsy shook his head.

“They usually are.” Pigsy was sure that Monkey was pulling a prideful face wherever he was, the kind of face when he knew he’d been wrong but would die rather than admit it. 

"But?" Sandy caught the unheard addition to Monkey's statement.

A pause. "Well, when I was hiding the scrolls, I was being chased."

"And what does that have to do with the dragon?" Sandy sounded like she already suspected. 

"I was in a bit of a hurry." Monkey paused again, and Pigsy heard a faint metallic sound. He must've been fiddling with his hairpin again. "And I might have accidentally bumped into a dragon at one point or other. Might've been the same one, actually. Kind of looks like him." 

"You think an apology would get him to forgive us?" Sandy didn't sound all that hopeful about it.

There was a bellow somewhere outside the cavern. Even distant, it shook pebbles from the ceiling.

"I wouldn't bet on it." Monkey's voice was taut. 

Pigsy groaned and slouched against the wall. “Tripitaka?”

“Yes?”

“Next time, we’re taking the road. Even if there’s bandits.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism is always welcomed!


End file.
